Some squad number choices make more sense than others.
David Beckham chose the number 23 at Real Madrid due to his love for Michael Jordan. Emmanuel Adebayor wore Kanu’s squad numbers for club and country, and Morgan Schneiderlin wears the number two for reasons that escape us, regardless of his attempted explanation.
Gabriel Jesus has been making an instant impact at Manchester City after arriving from Palmeiras, scoring against West Ham United in his first Premier League start.
The numbers 12, 14 and 20 were available, but the Brazilian opted to take the vacant 33 shirt – the same number he wore for his previous club.
Now we know what you’re thinking, you didn’t realise Gabriel was such a big Michael Johnson fan. But it’s not that.
We feel for one of the country’s brightest prospects. Man City and Leeds, but now a free agent. Michael Johnson. pic.twitter.com/J3Ym6dzwkK
— Retro Footballers (@RetroFutebol) December 30, 2013
Neither is he one of those who misses Premier League champion and City legend Matija Nastasić, who wore the number during the 2013/14 campaign.
Michael Regan/Getty Images
“It’s a number I ended up with and I really liked,” the teenager told The Guardian.
“I intend to wear it for many years. I asked if the number 33 was available, they said yes.”
33 is the age at which Jesus Christ died, and it is thought that City’s newest big-money signing chose the number as he comes from a religious family.
In addition to wearing the number throughout his professional career, he has it tattooed on his arm and plans to be associated with it for quite some time.
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